A lynx named Miyu and a human named Raye shot each other down above a forzen waste land they come to call Hell. With no chance of rescue for months perhaps years they will have to depend on the other to survive despite the war twixt humans and Cornerians

A loud ring and painful throb woke the beaten human. His eyes fluttered open but were so heavy he couldn't hold them up. Not like it mattered anyway, he was in a pitch black room and he couldn't even see his nose. Raye groaned and then the smell hit him, food. And not just any food but actual well cooked food. Herbs, spices, vegetables and baked goods tormented his nostrils and his soul. It had been so long since he had anything that wasn't salty or the tiring blends of herbs he put on his food.

His mouth watered and if he wasn't chained to a wall he would have stumbled off into the darkness looking for the food no matter where it was. Then the lights turned on and scalded his retinas even from inside their protective lids. He felt like he was hung-over but he hadn't had a sip of alcohol in over a year.

"Good to see you're awake." The blue bitch greeted cheerfully. Raye just scowled in response.

Krystal smiled pleasantly. "You missed a really good dinner, it's a shame you slept through it… oh well. But you know what? If you tell me what I want to know I'll let my good little human have a nice leftover last meal."

Raye groaned something but his voice was too weak to say it clearly.

"Oh you poor thing, I guess I did overdo it a little but oh well the pain will subside… maybe." Krystal said feigning sympathy.

"F… fuc-" Raye groaned but his throat felt like he was rubbing sandpaper on the inside of it with every syllable.

"Tisk, tisk, tisk." Krystal said while shaking her head. "It seems that you have some slight resistance in you. That's okay we'll start off slowly." Krystal said pulling out a knife.

"What… are you-" Raye struggled to say before he felt a searing pain in his foot. Warm blood dripped down from the hole in his food and fell from his freezing cold toes. Screaming only made him feel worse.

"You taste good." Krystal said as she licked the blade of her bloody knife. Raye shudder as her eyes lit up and a look of hunger crept across her face. "Very good in fact." Krystal said before stabbing Raye in the same spot again to tip off her blade with more blood. She swirled the blade around in the wound until she got the maximum amount of blood on her blade to lick off with her pink tongue.

Raye's head began to hurt more as blood began to pump faster and faster throughout his body. The sound of Krystal's over exalted licking and his blood dripping onto the floor was driving him mad. It seemed that while he was unconscious he had obtained superhuman hearing and now every whisper felt like a megaphone amplified shout.

"Mm… perhaps another taste?" Krystal said but stopped just before she reached Raye's foot. "No, I think I'll try another spot, it might taste even better… let's just find out shall we?" Krystal asked and then stabbed Raye right in his bound hand. The blade made a clink against the wall and Raye let out another scream but once more regretted it because it seemed to hurt him more than the stab wounds.

Krystal licked the blade yet again. "Oh yes, this is quite tasty." Krystal said as her eyelashes fluttered from the sheer delight of Raye's bloody taste.

Raye began to breathe irregularly almost like his lungs were rejecting the air he was trying to force in. The more he breathed the more his mouth tasted blood but apposed to Krystal's opinion he thought it was a bitter taste.

"Why are you doing this?" Raye groaned.

"Why not? You've killed a hundred some of my people. What makes you so special that you can get away with it?" Krystal asked.

"I never killed a hundred I only said that to piss you off and it worked didn't it?"

"But you have killed some of my people so tell me why I shouldn't eat you." Krystal said as she made a little cut on Raye's paling cheek. Raye flinched but held firm, he didn't care what happened to him as long as Caenda and Miyu were safe. Until he died he'd have to bear with the pain.

"I don't have an excuse, I don't need one! I'm ready to die."

"Oh are you?" Krystal asked as she licked the clean blade for any trace of his blood. She really was disgusting and he wanted to puke every time her eyes rolled with pleasure. "I can tell you aren't, something's holding you back isn't it? You could very well bite off your tongue and bleed to death yet you cling to life."

"First off suicide is for pussies and second off go fuck yourself." Raye snapped.

Krystal only smiled. "You know I'll have to take a bite out of you for that one." The vixen said before she pounced.

Raye screamed as Krystal dove at his shoulder. He could hear a bone snap, the vixen growl and his flesh rip apart. Never before had Raye felt so disgusted and so racked with pain at once. He could torture, deal with torture but this was beyond anything he thought was capable of happening.

"Oh God yes!" Krystal moaned as she savored Raye's flesh in her mouth. She swallowed the large clump of Raye before saying. "You humans taste so good."

Raye panted unevenly as he watched his blood gush out the large maw in his shoulder. The pain felt so bad but it was the fact Krystal actually bit him that got to him.

"You fucking bitch!" Raye shouted and his throat felt like it was ripping on the inside.

"I'm sorry I can't help myself!" Krystal giggled. "But I'll tell you what; if you tell me what I want to know I'll be a little bit nicer… deal?" Krystal said happily in Raye's face.

Raye kept silent because of how much his throat hurt and Krystal smiled. "Okay first off tell me everything you know about me."

Raye breathed heavier and heavier as more and more of his blood oozed out of his body, he was beginning to feel very tired and sleepy and it only got worse the longer he bled out. At least he wouldn't have to put up with Krystal much longer.

"You… you're a member of the elite mercenary team Star Fox… and you are a telepath." Raye breathed.

Krystal nodded her head. "Good, go on."

"You… you are an ace pilot, you've killed a lot of our soldiers… you also like long walks on the beach." Raye mused before he got slapped in the face.

"Don't try to get cute with me human, no human is cute enough to let live. Now go on before I have to indulge my hunger on something close to what you call sausage." Krystal grinned and held her knife just above Raye's zipper.

Raye shivered. "That- that's all I know! I got all my information from captives and the rest of the Earthen Military knows what I know!" Raye said as he fearfully tried to protect more of himself from being eaten. As long it was harmless information he'd hand it over.

Krystal squinted at him and then stabbed Raye right above his groin. "You know for some reason I believe you." Krystal sighed but Raye didn't hear her because of his loud wail.

The poor chained up human gritted his teeth, clenched his eyes shut and growled as hard as possible but he could not shut out the pain in his shoulder, head, hand, foot and now just above his groin.

"Now one more thing before we must part ways human." Krystal said as she licked her blade again. "Where are the others?"

To this question Raye did not submit a truthful answer to. "There are no others!" Raye groaned.

"You're lying to me human and I don't like liars." Krystal growled as her once perky ears flattened and her swishing tail stopped and began to bristle.

"There is no one else." Raye said just before Krystal dug three fingers and claws into his bite wound. Some blood jumped out onto Krystal's hand but she was too angry to lick it clean.

"Stop lying to me! I know you are! If you won't tell me where they are I'll never let your torment end!" Krystal growled as her claws and fingers inched deeper and deeper into Raye's shoulder.

When Krystal's submerging fingers stopped Raye's screams did long enough for him to say. "Do whatever you want! There is no one else! I'm all alone!"

Krystal growled but then she ripped her three claws out of Raye's shoulder. She paced around for a minute or two wondering what she should do, kill him or keep torturing him. Then it struck her, the human was running in a certain direction and maybe that was where the others were. But there wasn't a base that was visible to her, her team or her team's instruments. Perhaps it was underground or hidden in a cave?

Krystal smiled. "I got an idea; I'm going to start checking where we found you. Do you want to come?"

"I'm telling you I'm alone!"

"Sure you are. Come on human let's go find your friends." Krystal said as she slowly disappeared as did the room. Raye looked around in panic as everything solid began to fade away. He looked down at his feet and the process had already begun on him.

"What the fuck is happening?" Raye shouted as his waist disappeared quickly followed by his torso and then his neck….

…. "No Miyu you have to stay here with Caenda, Pierce and I will go look for Raye so just stay here!" Fay argued but Miyu was beside herself with worry. Raye had been gone for two hours and Ashley came back only an hour after they left. Something was wrong and she just knew it.

"No you! I'm going to go look for Raye to!" Miyu snapped.

"Miyu if you leave then you're life could be put in danger and then the baby is screwed if you die!" Pierce warned but his opinion didn't matter very much to Miyu.

"There's something out there and whatever it was got Raye… you guys wait here." Fay whispered releasing Miyu's muzzle to go look for the source of the noise outside.

"Fay!" Miyu called out but there was no fighting now. Fay wouldn't let Miyu out and she had the only gun left so there wasn't anything Miyu could do even if she left.

It was at that moment Caenda began to sniffle and her ears drooped. She was ready to throw a tantrum if she wasn't entertained soon.

"Pierce could you please play finger noming?" Miyu asked.

"Why can't you- oh." Pierce said as Miyu held up her sharp claws. "Alright but remind me to punch Raye in the face later."

"Why?"

"Why not…?"

…. Raye awoke suddenly, his lungs were filled to the brim with air which he began to release but as he exhaled his stomach released all of its contents. Funny thing was he felt a little better, at least his headache felt better.

"Falco he won't talk, let's scout the surroundings out a little more." Krystal said into her wrist com before kicking Raye in the gut causing a little more breakfast to come out.

"Can't do that Krystal, me and Slippy need to go back and refuel. I suggest that you-"

"Don't tell me what to do!" Krystal barked into her wrist com before venting her anger out on Raye with another fierce kick, this one went right into his chin, scrapping it badly.

"Fine, come back when you feel like it, preferably when you're not such a bi-"

Krystal cut the falcon off before he was able to make the dire mistake of calling her a bitch. She was in no mood to argue with him, her anger was already clouding her powers to the point she barely managed to penetrate the human's mind to interrogate him. Normally she could penetrate anyone's mind or even several people's minds at once with no problem but too many sources of rage were blotting her out.

"Come on human; let's leave the toad and the featherbrain to go jerk off while you acquaint me with your friends." Krystal snapped as she began to force Raye onto his feet.

That task was a little harder to do since Raye's mind was like mush and his legs like noodles. The human was drooling a little and he had a blank stare on his face.

"W-w-what did you do t-to m-m-me?" Raye stuttered like his mind was fried.

"Just get up human I don't want to have to tell you again." Krystal said as she dug her claws into the human's skin hard enough to just break it. Raye's only option was to try to get up but that took a little more time then he was supposed to use. "So which way?" Krystal asked looking around. Luckily it all looked the same to her and the numerous paths and footprints didn't stand out in the snow from so far away.

"W-w-what did-" Raye said before Krystal hit him upside the head with the butt of her blaster causing the human to drop back to the ground making all of his past efforts in vain.

"Wrong answer now get back to your feet!" Krystal barked.

Raye began to pant heavily. He began to space out and then freak out. He saw hues of reds instead of white snow, he tasted copper and his entire body burned with warmth but he still shivered because of the cold.

"Get up…" Krystal said quietly. "…GET UP!"

Raye's body recoiled from the energy bolt that pierced his chest. He was numb to the pain but he knew what happened. His breathing became irregular and his vision began to flicker from white to red to black.

"Fucking human!" Krystal said as she pulled the trigger yet again although this time she aimed for the dead center of his chest rather than the right of it. "If it weren't for your kind there wouldn't be a war! If it weren't for your kind millions of people would still be alive!" Krystal shouted but she began to break down.

"If it weren't for your race Fox… if it weren't for your miserable kind he'd still be alive!" Krystal sobbed.

Not wanting to let the dying human see her dismay the vixen stepped over the dying human and jumped onto her Arwing's wing. Before she climbed into the cockpit she glared at the human through tear streaming eyes.

'Enjoy your stay in Hell you monster.' Krystal thought to herself and then she climbed into her Arwing….

…. Fay tensed as she heard the noise get steadily closer. She crouched low and hoped the coat of skins Raye made would keep her hidden. Then she saw what the source of the noise was.

"An Arwing?" Fay gapped as it passed right over her and the cave and headed south. The white canine licked her lips. What was an Arwing doing here of all places? And would it be able to take her off this Hell hole once and for all? Fay shook her head. Odds are she'd be hung for treason if she was ever found by the military and she had an obligation set up by herself to help look after Caenda. Even if she wanted to go there was no way she could and live with herself or live very long for that matter.

When the Arwing had become nothing but a dot Fay resumed following Raye's scent. He had a particular odor, kind of a musky scent but also smelled like a strange fruit. When she described it to Raye he told her it might be a strawberry and that didn't surprise him since he grew up eating wild strawberries to survive, that and garbage.

As Fay got closer and closer another scent struck Fay's nostrils and it was a scent that only meant bad things.

"Blood." Fay whispered to herself before she began to sprint towards the source of the blood. She didn't go far until she reached a large lump in the snow painted red. "RAYE!"

Fay dropped down onto her knees when she reached Raye's side. She quickly examined the wound but was disheartened. The double blaster shot wounds looked grizzly and even if Pierce was right there now she doubted even he could do much if anything at all.

"Raye! Raye! Speak to me!" Fay said shakily. Seeing Raye, who was always so strong like this was tearing her up inside. She touched his bloodied face and felt his warmth had faded but there was still a little bit there. If she could get him back to the cave maybe, just maybe but then she looked back at the wounds, there wasn't a chance.

"… M-Miyu?" Raye whispered.

Fay bit her lips. She had no idea what to do now. He was alive and conscious so he was most likely in extreme pain. The only humane to do was end his suffering. Fay's trembling hands began to point at the human's head but were shaking too violently to make a clean kill.

"Miyu? Where are you?" Raye coughed as a little blood flew from his mouth onto the snow.

Fay whined like a sick puppy but eventually said. "I'm… I'm right here Raye."

"Miyu." Raye sighed and a small smile crept across his face. His eyes were closed and he was most likely losing it if he thought that Fay was Miyu.

"I'm right here Raye…. Everything's going to be okay." Fay said as she stroked Raye's cheek and tried to steady her grip around her blaster.

"Star Fox… they're here and they're looking for you all…." Raye said but began to cough up more blood. When his convulsions passed the human whispered. "You have to get Caenda out of here."

"But Raye what about you?" Fay whined as a tear dropped onto Raye's face. She didn't want Raye to die, she revered him as a friend and if it weren't for him she would never have learned that Pierce was the nicest guy she had ever met. Without him life in the cave would be nothing but a hollow, lifeless existence.

"You're going to have to… t-take care of her by y-yourself." Raye coughed. "I'm sorry."

Fay wiped her eyes. She shouldn't be doing this, it wasn't right for her to take what should be Miyu's and Raye's last moments together.

"D-don't talk like that Raye." Fay whimpered as she hoisted the bleeding human up and onto her back. "I'll get you home and Pierce will fix you up."

"I love you Miyu. I love you so much… please tell Caenda I loved her to." Raye whispered as if he hadn't heard Fay tell him he was going home. In fact the human didn't even know he was moving let alone talking to Fay.

"Just hang in there Raye, you'll be home soon!" Fay said as she quietly prayed she'd make it home in time….

…. "Well look who decided to come back and empty handed no less. What did you kill him?"

"Shut up Falco." Krystal scowled as she pushed past the agitated falcon and toad.

"He was our only lead Krystal! Why'd you kill him?" Slippy snapped.

"Fuck you Slippy." Krystal swore as she slammed her bedroom door behind her.

Falco shrugged. "Don't know why he let her back on if she was going to be this much of a bitch." Falco scowled.

Slippy shook his bulbous head just before he broke down. "Please Falco don't mention him." the toad said as beady tears began to flow from his round eyes.

"Why not? I can do whatever the Hell I want!" Falco shouted. "Fox's dead weight now and if I want to scream it I will! FOX FUCKING MCCLOUD IS A WORTHLESS FUCKING VEGETABLE!"

For the first time in his life Slippy made an attempt to punch the avian but before he even got halfway Falco clipped him on the head hard enough to send the toad spiraling to the ground.

"You bastard!" Slippy whined as he rubbed his head on the ground.

"Get over it Slippy," Falco said turning on his heal to hide his face "like the rest of us."

Krystal had been listening in on the whole conversation from the other side of the door and her heart wept to see Star Fox in such a state. Not even when she first signed on had it ever been this bad. Without Fox there was no Star Fox, just three bitter and spiteful pilots with the fate of the Lylat on their shoulders.

The only comfort the vixen had anymore was reliving the deaths of all the humans she killed. It was the humans that shot Fox down and it was the humans who took him away from her forever. Just as Krystal and Fox were getting warm enough to share the same bed again he was gone in a spiraling instant.

To escape the pain in her heart the vixen focused on the human that was soon to die back down on the planet. She felt his pain and smiled because of it. She wanted him to suffer before he died but in truth she would have proffered if he didn't die so she could torture him with her telepathy a little more so she could get all the answers out of his worthless mind. Still she let her anger get the best of her like when Fox kicked her off Star Fox and when she became a bounty hunter. Nothing good ever came out of anger for her but for some reason it still felt good doing it.

Once she had had enough of feeling the human's torment the vixen padded towards her bed and plopped down upon it like a sack thrown carelessly to the ground. She breathed in deeply to smell the lingering scents of Fox but there was hardly anything left and she dared not go into his room where his forever sleeping body laid. The guilt and the fact of knowing it was all her fault would surely break her from the inside out….

…. "I-I can't shake him!" Krystal shouted as she tried every maneuver she knew to get away from her human tail.

"Hold on Krystal I'm coming!" Fox growled over the radio as he threw his Arwing into full gear to rush to the vixen's aid. He just got her back and he would not lose her again.

Krystal kept trying to avoid a lock but the human pilot was too good and sure enough there came the warning sound telling her there was a lock on her. The vixen stopped breathing, her shields were almost dead and this missile would be the end of her. She could feel the satisfaction come from the human's ship as she fired the missile.

The outside world coasted to a stop. This was the end. Even if Fox got there right now and shot the human pilot it still wouldn't matter. Krystal sighed as her warning systems went off like crazy.

"Good bye Fox." Krystal whispered right before the missile struck her ship. But it never came, Krystal looked up from a photo of her and Fox when all of her systems stopped hollering and she was relieved to be alive until she saw Fox's condition on her display. "FOX!"

As Krystal shouted his name over and over Fox never responded as he spiraled down towards the hostile human planet. He had taken the missile for Krystal and after they recovered him he'd never wake from his coma again….

…. "Almost there Raye, almost there!" Fay whined as she pumped her legs as fast as she could to get to the cave. She was almost there and her burden didn't slow her down a second. The canine quickly burst through the first barrier and was swallowed by the cave's warmth but she could only feel fear and desperation at this point.

"PIERCE! MIYU!" Fay shouted just as she reached the last skin barrier.

"Fay! What are you- quick put him down!" Pierce said as soon as he saw Raye's bloody condition. He handed Caenda off to Miyu and immediately began to inspect Raye's body.

"… Raye?" Miyu gapped as she held Caenda just barely in her arms. She was completely stricken to the core at seeing Raye so hurt that everything else seemed to fade away like a dream.

"He's still breathing and there's still a pulse but it's faint. Come on Fay go get my damn supplies!" Pierce snapped at the panicking canine. Fay's muzzle dropped but she nodded and ran to the supply corner and grabbed Pierce's first aid box. In it was enough supplies to patch up eight people, stop a gallon's worth of blood and make anyone's last moments easier with some of the morphine. Pierce hoped that it wouldn't come to that but odds were he'd have to give some to Raye before it was all over.

"Raye?" Miyu repeated as Pierce and Fay worked hard to stop the bleeding.

"These look like blaster wounds which is fortunate, the bleeding isn't as bad as a ballistic wound." Pierce noted out loud but that was no cause for celebration. "He's lost a lot though, what happened?"

"I don't know for sure. I smelt blood, I bolted and then I found him like this!" Fay whimpered as her hands became sullied with Raye's blood. "He said something about Star Fox though!"

"Star Fox." Pierce spat bitterly. "Of course of all people it would be them. Come on Fay more pressure or he'll bleed out!"

"Alright Pierce." Fay said as she began to press down as hard as she could.

Caenda squirmed in her mother's arms and she began to whine like she did before she erupted into wails. Miyu looked down at Caenda and didn't know what to do. She felt so powerless and unhelpful, not to mention worthless. With Raye like this she was hollow inside with no idea of what to do or think.

"Alright roll him over so we can address the front." Pierce said as he reached for more bandages. As he spun back around Raye was on his side and his front looked fine. "Strange… they didn't go through all the way… why though?"

"Does it matter? We're losing time!" Fay snapped.

Pierce nodded "All right put him back on his chest, I'll see what else I can do."

"Is he going to make it?" Miyu whimpered.

Pierce didn't respond, he just bit his lips and tried to ignore the question. He didn't honestly know if Raye would pull through this one, each shot wasn't bleeding too badly and he had enough blood to sustain him for now since but if wither shot hit a vital organ it didn't matter how much blood he had. And odds are whoever got him hit him in his lung.

Miyu clutched Caenda a little tighter to herself and walked off towards the nest and sat down. She needed a second to ascertain what was happening. Everything was coming at her so fast, Star Fox was on Hell, Caenda wasn't safe and Raye was dying. Her whole world she and Raye had made for themselves was now decadent. Without Raye she had virtually nothing to live for.

Miyu shook her head, she still had Fay, Pierce, Ashley and most of all Caenda who looked so much like her father, Miyu would have a little piece of Raye forever. Her burst of optimism lasted only for so long until the crushing blow landed on her psyche.

'Raye's dying.' Miyu thought to herself after it finally hit her. Miyu wanted to claw herself for not getting it earlier. Raye was dying and she was no where near his side. The brown speckled lynx got off the nest and paced slowly towards Raye's bleeding body. It was the last thing she wanted to do, seeing Raye like that but she also didn't want Raye to be by himself in such a grim moment.

"That's all we can do." Pierce sighed to himself, wishing he could do more. The way Raye was he had about a slim chance if at all of making it through.

Fay bit her lips as she looked down at her bleeding comrade. Raye was her friend and watching him die reminded her of all the times she saw so many other friends gunned down in battle. She left with Pierce to escape that life yet somehow it snuck up on her again. With a small touch on the human's shoulder Fay mentally gave Raye her prayers, best wishes and good byes all at once. The white canine walked over to her bed and sat. She wanted to be away from the blood but the smell of it lingered on her hands, the cave and deep inside her nostrils. Escaping the smell of inevitable death was impossible. She began to shiver madly until Pierce joined her and wrapped his arm around her. In his other hand was a passive hybrid child. Caenda had no idea of what was going on or why and that was a good thing.

Despite the warmth in the cave Miyu was shaking like Fay was. Ashley wasn't much relief for her as the chills came from within her psyche. It seemed that as Raye slipped further away so did she. The lynx's trembling fingers touched Raye's arm that was once so warm but was now freezing. That did not stop her from lying down next to her fading lover….

…. "KRYSTAL!"

Krystal's eyes snapped open at the sound of the blue Falcon's voice. He sounded urgent and dire so she didn't shut off her wrist com and roll back on over to sleep.

"What is it Falco?" Krystal asked, her voice groggy from lack of sleep. She had only slept for about an hour and that was all she had in the last two days. Shame, guilt and regret kept her awake for days on end. Fear, sorrow and nightmares kept her from eating. Anger, rage and vengeance kept her constantly on edge and ready to kill anything that wasn't Cornerian.

"Get to the bridge NOW!" the Falcon said and then cut the line.

Krystal rubbed her eyes and yawned. She didn't really feel like running to the bridge the second she woke up so she took a little extra time to get up. When she did she walked leisurely to the bridge but then she felt Falco's and Slippy's terrorized minds which made her sprint full speed. The automatic, metal doors whooshed open just in time and she ran in before they opened halfway.

"What is it Fal-"

"-And none of you will escape this time. Without your savior Fox McCloud and the human armies in ruins you will all bow down to me or perish in fire."

Krystal froze in terror as she bore witness to a face she had not seen alive since she was on Suaria. The face was hideous, frightening and one she never whished to see again.

The face of Lylat's most notorious archenemy smiled sinisterly. "Lord Andross has spoken…"

…. Miyu tried not to count the seconds she was with Raye, each one of them was so fleeting and singular she was glad to have them all. Raye's temperature hadn't arisen any, even with a fur wrapped over him and Miyu clutching to him for dear life. She wanted to do more but she didn't honestly know what. Just being by his side was all she could do for the moment. Raye was subjugated to spasms of violent coughing and he felt so cold that not even the outside felt so bad. Finally after thousands of seconds counted and loved by the lynx the human awoke just as the lynx slipped under.

At first he smiled but then he felt the throbbing pain in his body. It wasn't so bad, the cold was numbing it a little and the soft, warm body pressed up against him was far from unappreciated.

"Hey Miyu." Raye choked out. For some reason it hurt more to breathe than his wounds did.

"Miyu?" Raye asked as he rolled his head over to gaze at her beautiful face for what was most likely the last time. Instead he found those delightful ears of hers, the same ears on the daughter they shared. Without hesitation Raye reached over with his left arm and through the pain he got some tranquil enjoyment with playing with Miyu's ears. They were soft, fun and would twitch every now and then. It was a lover's game to them and neither one disliked it.

Miyu's ear twitched but the lynx kept sleeping. For a while Raye wondered if he should wake her but then he decided against it. He much rather proffered her to enjoy the last few moments they had together rather than say their heart wrenching good byes. Even without Pierce's conformation Raye knew he was dying. He felt strangely calm though, dying wasn't all that bad especially when the ones you love are right there beside you. With a small breath of life Raye suddenly relived every moment he had with Miyu, the good, the bad, the wonderful, and of course the painful. Slowly the air escaped his lungs and the pain began to fade. His time was soon up and before long he'd no longer be a living part of the universe.

Raye closed his eyes and snuggled up closer to Miyu and then he noticed Ashley whose head was gently resting on his thigh. The human smiled at the white arctic wolf. She had played a large roll in Raye's life and Raye was thankful to have her. She was like a part of the family and he would risk his life just to save hers if given the chance. He owed a lot to the little wolf pup who was now fully grown in to a giant behemoth of a wolf.

'We really did spoil her.' Raye thought humorously. 'Of course she could always fend for herself against hunger and even saber tooth tigers.' Raye thought as he relived the hunts with Ashley and the time Ashley put her own life on the line to save Miyu's life. Moving from the lynx's ear Raye stroked Ashley's white fur. The she-wolf opened a tired and very sad eye. Animals have a sixth sense for things and she knew Raye was hurt which is why she was sleeping right there beside him.

"There's a good girl." Raye wheezed. Ashley whined like a beaten pup and licked Raye's hand. "You'll take care of Miyu for me won't you?"

As if Ashley understood what Raye said she got up and padded over to the other side where Miyu was and rested her head on Miyu's waist.

"Such a good girl." Raye smiled.

The pain was almost gone and Raye began to get very tired. He wanted to live on for his daughter's sake but he was just too tired. And besides she was safe from Star Fox and in especially good hands. Pierce would put little band-aids on any scrapes Caenda got on her tiny little knees, Fay would teach Caenda to be a good friend, Ashley would protect her and Miyu would raise her up far better than he'd ever be able to on his own. Raye could almost see her now, little perky ears, bright blue eyes, swishing tail and flowing brown hair.

'She'll be well taken care of.' Raye thought, struggling to keep a tear from falling. The thing in life he began to regret most was not being able to see her grow up. She wasn't fully human, she wasn't full Cornerian, she was his daughter and he loved her more than anything.

Raye's eyes began to drop as they began to get heavier and heavier. Gradually the pain subsided along with the overpowering call of sleep and the human began to feel more at peace than he ever had been.

'Dying isn't bad when everyone you love is with you.' Raye thought as his teary brown eyes shut.

"I love you Miyu." Raye sighed as his dying breath left his lungs.

To be continued…

AUTHOR'S NOTES~~~ Hey guys, that ending is just… I know. There's not much to say other than I really loved writing this story, it wasn't for me it was for the fans and I'm glad most all of you enjoyed it. As said above the story will be continued. Anyways I am sorry for what I just did but hey things will continue and we'll see how the rest plays out. To be honest when I began this story I never once dreamed it would end like this. I just salvaged the whole, human and Cornerian survival idea from a story I was working on but later scrapped because it was too poorly built and too complex even for me. Every chapter in this story, I just started it off and it went on from there like this chapter. As for the rest of the "Love Cave" inhabitants their parts will continue in the sequel. I don't know what the story will be called but when I start writing it maybe it will come to me. Check my profile for any updates I might (I have a tendency to forget for a long time and for the moment 6-1-10 I don't have internet) post about the sequel or PM me if you want any news. Anyways I hope you enjoyed Survival on a Frozen Hell as much as I did, have a good one, thanks for everything peeps!

~~~XxSanitariumxX~~~

The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.